December 6, 2006 - Mayor Bill Haslam
will kick off this year's Knox County school phone book recycling
effort at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the new Goodwill-Park Village
Drive Recycling Center in West Knoxville.

The location is a "Super Recycling Center" involving
a partnership between Goodwill and the City of Knoxville, which
recently added recycling drop-off containers to the site.

As part of the event the mayor will recognize the winners of a
phone book recycling poster contest held recently in Knox County
schools that was aimed at promoting awareness among students of
the importance of recycling.

The school system is also involved in an ongoing contest to see
which schools can collect the most phone books.

The two winning students of the poster contest will each receive
a $50 prize and their teachers will receive a $125 prize for use
in the classroom.

Some new phone books have already started arriving at residences
and businesses and BellSouth begins distributing its books later
this month.

"Recycling old phone books provides major environmental benefits,"
Haslam said, "including saving existing resources as well as
helping limit the amount of pollutants into the environment."

Last year, for example, Knox County schools collected more than
143 tons of used phone books for recycling.

That translated into a savings of 240 cubic yards of landfill space,
saved 2,448 trees from having to cut for paper products, saved 432
barrels of oil, and kept 31,824 pound of carbon dioxide out of the
air.

Schools began collecting old phone books this year and the contest
to collect the most continues until Jan. 27, 2007. Cash prizes will
be awarded to the schools that collect the most books.

Individuals can drop off old phone books at schools, though they
should check with the school first to see if it is participating
in the effort.

Businesses and individuals can also make arrangements to drop off
large numbers of books, on behalf of particular schools if they
choose, at Knox Recycled Fiber at 1323 Proctor Street.

They need to inform the schools of the number of books they drop
off so those schools can credit that number to their total.

Phone books can also be dropped off at recycling centers located
across the city including ones at some Kroger and Food City locations;
behind the K-Mart on Kingston Pike and at Goodwill Collection Centers
at 225 W. Moody Avenue and the collection center at the corner of
Magnolia Avenue and Alice Street.